Geoff Taylor has written a Windows application for scoring block play as well as an Excel spreadsheet to generate Round Robin rounds:

Middlesbrough Croquet Club has successfully run a number of competitions and tournaments using 'flexible' blocks. Flexible blocks are simply block competitions in which not all the games are completed and not all players play the same number of games.

A full set of rounds is pre-prepared (as in a round robin) but the next round to be played is determined by the availability of players. This procedure minimises non­playing time and can allow the faster players to fit in extra games.

The winner and player ranking is determined by 'comparative' scoring as detailed by Gaunt and Wheeler in their book on Croquet Management. In this method the performance of each player is compared with the performance of each other player with account being taken of only those games in which they played each other or the same opponents. If (in valid games) Player A has the same number of wins as Player B but A beat B in their match, then A is awarded 2 points and B 0 points. Other-wise if A has not played B then it is a draw and each are awarded 1 point.

Scoring is time consuming and prone to error if carried out manually and so software has been developed which makes the scoring very simple and fast - see sample output. In addition an XL spreadsheet is available which generates the round robin rounds.

Windows Croquet Blocks Scorer:croquetblocks.zip (506KB). [This has been tested under Windows 7]. Currently blocks of up to 12 players can be accommodated. The Blocks scorer can be personalised for the user’s club upon receipt of a donation to the Middlesbrough branch of the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Excel Round Robin Calculator:roundrobinss.zip (21KB). This is an XL spreadsheet that prepares the set of rounds for 6, 8, 10 or 12 players (I can extend it to 16 players) and populates those templates with players' names. I have used this to start a new round early depending on the players available – hence keeping things moving as quickly as possible with as much flexibility as possible (whilst also retaining some management control) .